First Lady Laura Bush and Mary Fallon, wife of Adm. William J. Fallon, greet Kathy Wooldridge, one of the guests at U.S. Pacific Command headquarters. RICHARD AMBO I The Honolulu Advertiser   Laura Bush shakes hands with Radford High School senior Kimberly Kisner, 17, (back to camera), one of the invited guests at a meeting with Bush at Pacific Command Headquarters. Watching at left are Radford senior Corrine Bonifacio and Mary Fallon, wife of Pacific Commander Adm. William Fallon. RICHARD AMBO | The Honolulu Advertiser

Not surprisingly, education and housing topped the list.

The first lady expressed keen interest in a program that Radford High students created four years ago that assists arriving military dependents with adjustment to life in Hawai'i.

The program pairs students with newcomers for an orientation of the Salt Lake area campus, which enrolls an average of about three new students from military families each school day. The program also provides new arrivals with information about the surrounding community and cultural matters.

"What you are doing is a model for what schools could be doing all over the country," Bush said.